"Homeland security" has become the repressive domestic police force we were warned about

[marmar]

ICE’s threat was there from the beginning
"Homeland security" has become the repressive domestic police force we were warned about

By Heather Digby Parton
Columnist
Published January 13, 2026 9:00AM (EST)


(Salon) America has been through plenty of dark times in its history, from a Civil War to depressions and two bloody world wars that leveled much of the world. But for most of us alive today, those events all happened before we were born. Aside from the ongoing menace of nuclear annihilation, the biggest threat we’ve faced as a country was 9/11 when the country’s mainland was attacked by al-Qaeda. It led to what we quickly dubbed the War on Terror, an absurd misnomer that had the effect of not only empowering the George W. Bush administration to invade a country that didn’t attack us, but also opened the door to a new era of domestic government police powers with very little oversight.

While the War on Terror may be something of an anachronism today, the bureaucratic relics of that time are still with us — and they have become exactly what we feared it would be: a domestic police force that has led not only to the repression of basic rights and liberties, but also to a creeping authoritarian state.

....(snip)....

Within 45 days, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act with overwhelming bipartisan support, vastly expanding the government’s spying authority and capability, and lifting much of the oversight which protected citizens’ civil liberties. The bill also gave the government new authority to designate individuals as part of a terrorist group, seize property and jail immigrants indefinitely. Such was America’s fear and angst that its leaders were more than willing to toss aside the nation’s hard-won privacy protections in a moment of shock.

....(snip)....

From the moment they called it the Department of Homeland Security, many civil libertarians and historians knew we were looking at trouble. The word “Homeland” carries a lot of freight, evoking the German heimat, a word that was used liberally by the Nazis. As James Traub wrote in the New York Times, the word “points to a world of solidarity forged through blood ties, through ancient ritual and legend” which “America’s founding generations gratefully left behind when they reached the New World, where they built a nation out of acquiescence to a shared social contract.” Even right-wing pundits like the Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan said they should change the name because “it grates on a lot of people, understandably. Homeland isn’t really an American word.” ...........................(more)

https://www.salon.com/2026/01/13/ices-threat-was-there-from-the-beginning/

[WhiskeyGrinder]

1. "Has become"? Always has been.

[Solly Mack]

6. Yep

[PatSeg]

7. Yes, I remember when many strongly opposed

the formation of DHS. I believe even GW Bush thought it was unnecessary for awhile, but republican politics was pushing the terrorism threat after 9/11. They milked that one dry.

What Joe Biden said in regard to Rudy Giuliani, applied to most of the GOP at the time - "A noun, a verb, and 9/11". They shamelessly exploited that tragic day.

[Lovie777]

2. Yep.............

attacking, injuring and killing fellow Americans.

[S/V Loner]

3. As soon as they used the term Homeland...

I knew we were in trouble.

[B.See]

10. Many of us did. It's just that it apparently

took more people longer to recognize straight up NAZI shit when they saw it.

Some don't recognize it still.

[leftstreet]

4. DURec

[mwb970]

5. The gun nuts needed lots of guns to protect themselves from a dangerous dictator taking over.

Guys. A dangerous dictator has taken over. The trouble is, you appear to be on his side. What's up?

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

9. They stormed the guns shops when Obama was elected. They clutched their white pearls over his skin color.

But with this white, wannabe dictator Trump, they have no problem.

[dobleremolque]

8. Their slogan, "One of us / All of you" , meaning

one of our lives is worth all of yours, is an unambiguous indication that the current government has an us versus them mentality. It's dangerous, seeks to justify repression, and it is dictatorial.